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Jail for hairdresser who 'bit off' part of man's ear

A HINCKLEY hairdresser who bit off part of a man's ear and pulled so hard he ripped part of it away from his head has been jailed.

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by Hinckley Times

08:05, 2 Sep 2008Updated18:41, 30 Sep 2013

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A HINCKLEY hairdresser who bit off part of a man's ear and pulled so hard he ripped part of it away from his head has been jailed.

Paul Swift, 42, of Applebees Meadow, Hinckley, had denied wounding Lee Ward during the incident in an Atherstone town-centre pub.

But a jury at Warwick Crown Court took just over an hour to find him guilty, although he was cleared of a more serious charge of wounding with intent.

After the trial in May, Judge James Pyke adjourned the case for a pre-sentence report to be prepared on Swift, who owns a hairdressing business.

And at Coventry Crown Court, where Judge Pyke is now sitting, Swift was jailed for 18 months.

The judge said he was sentencing Swift, who had a previous conviction for headbutting a pub landlord, on the basis that he had used excessive force in self-defence.

He said: "Patently, for an offence of this nature, no sentence other than an immediate term of imprisonment is appropriate."

Kristina Montgomery, prosecuting, told the jury that in June last year Mr Ward, who lived in the Atherstone area, had been to a function to celebrate the end of the local football season.

He, a friend and their partners, then visited pubs in Atherstone and ended up in a pub called The Lounge, where Swift and his son were also drinking.

There was a history between them because two years earlier there had been an incident involving the defendant which Mr Ward had witnessed and made a statement about to the police, after which Swift had been hostile towards him.

Mr Ward walked behind Swift, who was by the bar talking to his son, to help his friend carry some drinks.

"The prosecution case is that the defendant put out his elbow to make contact with him, and there was an exchange between the two of them," said Miss Montgomery.

Mr Ward told the jury Swift was aggressive towards him and headbutted him before they began grappling and fell to the floor, with Swift on top.

Miss Montgomery added: "The defendant used wholly excessive force by applying his teeth to the top of Lee Ward's ear and biting down with sufficient force to cut through the outer rim, taking a piece out of it, but also pulling against it sufficiently to tear it away from the skull.

"There was a break in the skin of some depth at the back of the ear, and when they were separated the defendant's mouth was covered in blood."

But Swift, who was ejected from the pub and was not arrested until later, gave a different version.

In a statement to the police he had accepted being in a fight which he said Mr Ward had instigated by hitting him with a bottle but denied biting Mr Ward's ear.

In court Swift accepted he had bitten Mr Ward's ear but said he had done so in self-defence.

He told the jury that Mr Ward had been the aggressor, and that after words had been exchanged between them he was grabbed by Mr Ward and pulled towards him, and they fell over sideways, with Mr Ward landing on top.

Swift said he had bitten Mr Ward's ear in self-defence to get him off but denied that in doing so he had been using excessive force.